In the Midwest.

Attorney General Sends Protest About Proposed Lake Water Sale

LANSING, MICHIGAN — Atty. Gen. Frank Kelley is joining the dispute over a Canadian company's efforts to sell water from Lake Superior to Asia.

Kelley sent a letter Thursday to the Canadian Environmental Appeal Board in Toronto.

The Nova Group, a consulting firm based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, obtained a permit March 31 from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to remove up to 156 million gallons of water a year from the lake.

The ministry later rescinded the permit after outcry from environmentalists and officials in Canada and the United States. The Nova Group has appealed that action.

Kelley, who heads the Michigan delegation to the Great Lakes Commission, said the Nova Group's plan could threaten the integrity of the Great Lakes.

"Allowing private companies to simply siphon off water from our Great Lakes to be sold abroad for profit sets and extraordinarily dangerous precedent," Kelley said.